Vacuum cleaner



June 12, 1.923. 1,458,714-

W. L. LINDGREN VACUUM CLEANER Filed Aug. 5, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 12, 1923.

w. LINDGREN VACUUM CLEANER Filed Aug. 5 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 June 12, 1923.

.W. L. LINDGREN VACUUM CLEANER Filed Aug. 5. 1921 3 Shets-Sheet 5 m m m T A Patented June 12, 1923.

UNITED STATES 1,458,714 PATENT OFFICE.

WALDEHAR LINNE LINDGREN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ALFRED A.

NORTON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

vacuole CLEANER.

Application filed August 5, 1921. Serial No. 489,984.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALDEMAR LINNE LINDGREN, a "citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vacuum Cleaners, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

My invention is concerned with vacuum cleaners, and has as its primary object to produce a simple device of theclass described that will operate more efliciently than those now in use. In securing this result, I employ certain novel features, among which is the combination with the customary vacuum nozzle of a rotating brush which serves to pick up dirt and small-particles and carry them to an auxiliary port or nozzle through which they are'sucked into the main stream of air drawn in through the customary nozzle.

Another feature of my invention is such a brush geared to be rotated so as to lift dirt and particles adhering thereto so that they will be drawn tangentially therefrom by the air drawn in through the associated port or nozzle.

To illustrate my invention, I annex hereto three sheets of drawings in which the same reference characters are used to designate identical parts in all the figures, of which- Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a vacuumcleaner embodying my invention, with a portion of the gear casing broken away and the clutch shown in horizontal section;

Fig. 2 is a view in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view of the nozzle casing and associated parts;

Figs. 4 and 5 are horizontal sections, as seen on the line 45, of Fig. 2, but on a larger scale, showing the mounting of the brush in the two ends of the nozzle casing;

Fig. 6 is a detail in vertical section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 3, but on an enlarged scale; and

Figs. 7 and Bare vertical sections on an enlarged scale on the line 77 and 88 of Fig. 1.

In carrying out my invention in its preferred form, I employ a centrally located fan casing 10, which will he of the customa generally circular type with the tangentia portion 11 leadin to the customary sack 12 which is detacha 1y secured thereto Mounted in the suction fan 13 in any desired manner. casing 10 is the customa secured on the shaft 14 w ich is journaled 1n the bearin 15 secured in the rear vertical wall of t e fan casing and in the bearmg 16 secured in the rear vertical wall of the gear casing 17, which may be cast as a part of the fan casing 17, and has the removable sheet metal top 18 to give ready access thereto.

Pivoted on the ears 19 extending u wardly from the bearing extensions 20 an 21 of t e gear casing is the yoke 22 having the customary handle 23 secured thereon so that the cleaner may be shoved back and forth over the floor by hand, it being supported mainly on the wheels 24 rigidly secured on the ends of the shaft 25 journaled in the bearings 20 and 21, and having the clutch member 26 rigidly secured thereon and connected when the shaft is rotated forwardly by the balls or rollers 27 mounted in the triangular recesses 28 formed in the periphery of the clutch member 26, and pressed into engaging position by the light helically coiled springs 29 with the inner periphery of the rim 30 of the cup-shaped clutch memshoved forwardlty, the gear thus described will rotate the 13 at a high speed in the proper direction to suck dust into the receiving opening 34 formed in the vertical front wall of the casing and to discharge it into the bag 12. All of the mechanism thus far described is of a form already known, and per se forms no part of my in vention.

What I have called the nozzle casing is in advance of the fan casing, and consists of the front portion 35, having a generally rectangular outline, as seen in plan view with its lower edge near the floor. This front portion 35 is connected by a tapering portion 36 with the inlet 34, and the nozzle casing may be a part of the general frame casing including the fan casing 10. The effective bottom of this nozzle casin is formed by the piece of sheet metal 37, w ich is secured at its rear to the flange 38 forming a part of the front wall of the fan casing, and its forward end is curved down following the general lines of the top of the nozzle casing so as to form the elongated inlet or nozzle 39, which extends beneath the portion 36 and flares as shown so that the dust sucked in at the nozzle 39 is drawn through the opening 34 into the fan casing. The inner sides of the ends 40 and 41 (see Fig. 3) of the nozzle casing are provided with the vertical slots 42 through which pass the bearing pintles 43 secured in the bearing in s 44 projecting outwardly from the vertica walls of the brackets 45, which are secured, as by the screws 46 to the under sides of the top of the portion 35 of the noz-' zle casing, the brackets 44 being provided with horizontally extending flanges to accommodate the screws 46. Both brackets have bearings 47 for the rollers 48 journaled on the studs 49 of the ferrules 5O crimped on the ends of the brush roll or cylinder 51, which cylinder is provided with the customary tufts of bristles 52 to form the brush well known in the carpet sweeper art. One of the studs 49 has secured on it concentric therewith the reduced stud 53 upon which is secured the gear'p1n1on 54 meshing with the gear pinion 55 w h1ch 1s journaled on the stud 43, and is rigidly secured to and forms the hub of the wheel 56, which is preferably provided with the rubber tire 57. The wheel 56 on the other hand has the plain hub 55 and the stud 49 at that end terminates in the disk 54 rigidly secured thereto, the object of course being to drive the brush from one end so as not to cause any difficulty in turning the apparatus when in use. With the gearing described, it will be obvoius that as the cleaner is pushed forward, the wheels 56 will rotate clockwise, while the brush rotates anticlockwise, and any material that it picks up is carried up beneath the forward curved lower portion of the sheet metal plate 37 to the auxiliary inlet or inlets 58 which are stamped into the sheet metal, as shown. As a result of the novel combination, it will be apparent that as the cleaner is shoved forward any loose dust will be drawn up through the nozzle 39 and anything that is held down against the draft, but can be loosened up by the bristles 52, will be so loosened up and carried up to the auxiliary inlets 58, through which they pass to reach the main stream of air, being drawn throu h the fan casing and into the bag 12 in t e customary manner. It will be noted that the projecting edge of the slot 58 extends into the path of the ends of the brush bristles so that they engage the same, and thereby loosen any dirt tending to adhere to them when it reaches the point where the suction is the most efi'ective.

While the clutch mechanism made up of the parts 26 and 31 is not per se novel and forms no part of my invention, I may note that I have interposed between the clutch member 31 and the spiral gear wheel 32 a helically coiled spring 59, which has one end secured on the in 60 projecting from the member 31, whilg its other end is secured in the spiral gear wheel 32, as seen at 61. To limit the tension that may be put on the sprin I secure in the adjacent face of the spira gear wheel 32 a pair of pins 62 and 63 in the path of the pin '60-, so as to limit the tension that may be placed on the spring.

In Fig. 7 I. have illustrated more fully a novel lock for the handle 23, this being furnished by a plate 64-. secured on the lug 65 projecting downwardly from the yoke 22 and co-operating with the square notch 66 formed in the top of the foot lever 67 which has the flattened portion 68 at its free end to receive the toe of the shoe, while its other end is fulcrumed on the screw 69 which is threaded into the lug 70 .formed on the rear wall of the fan casing. A helically coiled torsional spring 71 is coiled about the screw 69 and has one end engaging the rear wall of the fan casing, while its other end is hooked underneath the lever 67 to hold it in the full line position shown in Fig. 7 When the cleaner is not in use, the handle is swung up to the vertical position shown in dotted lines, in which the tooth 64 catches in the recem 66 and holds the hamdle vertical until it is to be used again, when by touching the end 68 of lever 67 the latter is swung down so as to release the handle and allow it to be thrown back to relative position.

While I have shown and described In invention as embodied in the form which at present consider best adapted to carry out its purposes, it will be understood that it is capable of modifications and that I do not desire to be limited in the interpretation of the following claims, except as may be necessitated by the state of the prior art.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a vacuum cleaner, the combination with a nozzle casing, of means for producing a vacuum in said casing, a brush rotated over the floor as the cleaner moves, a main nozzle opening into said casing adjacent the floor line, and an auxiliary inlet to said casing located well above the floor line and the main nozzle so as to draw into the casing material lifted from the floor and carried thereto by the brush, said auxiliary inlet having one edge adapted to contact with the periphery of the brush as it rotates pastit to loosen the dirt thereon.

2. In a vacuum cleaner, the combination with a nozzle casing having a fan casing formed integrally therewith into which the nozzle casing opens, a fan in the casing,

means for rotating the fan, a sheet-metal bottom for the nozzle casing shaped so as to form with the forward lower portion of the nozzle casing a nozzle adjacent the floor line, and a brush journaled beneath said sheet-metal bottom, said sheet-metal bottom having an auxiliary inlet formed therein with an edge thereof extending into the path of the periphery of the brush to loosen dirt thereon as it rotates past the same.

3. In a vacuum cleaner, the combination with a nozzle easing, of means for producing a vacuum in said casing, a brush journaled beneath the nozzle casing, and means for rotating the brush, said nozzle casing being provided with a dirt-admitting slot into the slot must located well above the floor line and parallel to the axis of the brush so that air drawn bristles adjaoent and covering the slot to carry anything lifted therebyofi' of the floor into the casing, an edge of Said slot being located so as to be contacted by the ends of the brush bristles as they pass the same to loosen dirt on said ends.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal, this thirdday of August, A. D. 1921.

WALDEMAR LINNE LINDGREN. [IL 8.]

Witness J 01m HOWARD McEmzoY.

pass by the ends of the 

